Dateline: Cincinnati
Detroit Tigers rookie Kevin McGonigle was intent on ruining the Reds Hall of Fame induction of Lou Piniella, Brandon Phillips, Reggie Sanders and Aaron Harang.
He deposited Brady Singer's second pitch of the game onto the center field terrace. Colt Keith and Riley Greene his singles back-to-back but Singer squelched further damage.
The Reds showed the old guard how good they are with a 9-2 win to clinch the series against Detroit and improved to 18-9 on the season.
The Reds took it out on Tigers' starter, Jack Flaherty. Matt McLain walked and Elly De La Cruz matched him. Sal Stewart hit his ninth home run into the left field stands. Nathaniel Lowe went back-to-back with his third home run in 24 hours.
Hard luck Ke'Bryan Hayes hit a long double over Matt Vierling's head in center field to opne the second inning. TJ Friedl was credited with a sacrifice bunt as Hayes moved along. McLain struck out but De La Cruz crushed his ninth home run the opposite way to the left base of the batter's eye.
Spencer Torkelson hit his second home run of the series and fourth on the season to cut into the lead.
The Reds continued to assault Tiger pitching.
Tyler Holton allowed an inning opening single to Hayes. Friedl dumped a single to right. De La Cruz walked and Stewart chased two home with a hard ground single passed the second baseman, Javier Baez.
"Sal is just a good hitter. He fouls off tough pitches. He may look off balance sometimes but when you're a good hitter and you see enough pitches, the pitcher will make a mistake and you can do some damage," Francona said.
Stewart drove in five runs and leads the Major Leagues with 29.
"I'm confident in my guys," Stewart said. "I know what we can do. There are ups and downs in this game. We understand that. I trust these guys. I love my teammates."
Stewart has been carrying the offense in the early season as they were near the bottom of baseball in runs scored. The last 10 games they have scored six or more runs five times. In that span Friedl had his first extra base hits with two against the Tigers in this game.
"It was only a matter of time until the bats came alive," Friedl said. "We've been playing good baseball over that last 10-game stretch. The pitching has been incredible. We've been playing good defense. We started getting things rolling on the offensive side."
Singer gave up his eighth hit with one out in the sixth. Connor Phillips shut down Detroit the rest of the inning.
"There were a lot of base runners, some hits," Terry Francona said. "Some bending but not breaking. You look up at Brady in the sixth and you usually have a good chance to win."
Singer finished with 5 1/3 innings, two runs on eight hits and no walks. He struck out three.
Graham Ashcraft and Sam Moll pitched scoreless innings with the Reds infield turning two double plays.
Friedl's third hit of the game was a home run off Drew Anderson. It was Friedl's first of the year.
Emilio Pagan pitched the ninth in a non-save situation. He had not pitched in five days. He pitched a scoreless ninth.
No comments:
Post a Comment